September 24, 2005

Bummer Dude

Today was a really bad day at the races. Everything was going great up until my chain decided to fall off, and then fall off again, and then again and again and again. Talk about frustration!So there's some pretty big names lined up at the start line. Jeremy Powers, two TIAA CREFF riders, Michigan pro Jeff Weinert, a couple Alan riders and then a couple dudes I didn't know but were going to be fast.The gun goes off and I blast past a few guys going to down the road leadout and move right up to about 4th wheel. We hit the grass and I'm comfortably sitting in just waiting and watching, not sure who's who but making sure to stay at the front. Lap two a couple of small attacks go and come back and we all sit up so treating it like a NORBA short track I make my move and immediatly have a 20 foot gap that is sticking. Couple corners and we're at the run up, I'm over the run-up holding my move and I jump on my bike to pedal only to find the chain is over the top of my guard and completely off the chainring, bummer!I'm able to throw it back on and jump back on the back of the group just telling myself not to panic and move up slowely. In no time I'm back to the front feeling really sweet and glad I made it back to the front when we hit a few bumps and my chains off AGAIN! So I dismount, put the chain back on, remount, chase hard, catch back on, move up, and then chain the falls off again. Repeat sequence 4 more times and you understand how my race went.Well, to make this story just a little shorter I just got mad and basically quit racing cause I wasn't having fun anymore and I know I could have been up there in the finish, I felt like I could have won but I ended up finishing 15th.So that's the way bike racing goes and I guess I need to figure out how to redo my chainguide so that the same thing doesn't happen tomorrow. HmmmThat's it for tonight, I just got more upset with the race recalling all the bad things that happend today. At least I can take my frustrations out tomorrow when we do it again, just hope my chain stays on!Tristan